LONDON on the Ground

A visit to Richard Rogers’ “awe-inspiring futuristic" landmark. When the Lloyd’s Building was completed in 1986, to designs by renowned architect Richard Rogers, there was nothing else quite like it. There still isn’t.   I recently had an opportunity to go inside the Lloyd’s Building for the first time. Walks available for booking For a schedule of forthcoming London On The Ground guided walks and tours, please click here . Grade I listing In 2011, the Lloyd’s Building became

Bells, bell ringers and panoramas of a City of London landmark. St Mary-le-Bow is one of Sir Christopher Wren’s most celebrated City of London churches. Its 248ft spire on Cheapside completes the most ‘Wren-like’ of the City churches he created after the Great Fire of London of 1666. It remains a landmark in the 21st century City. St Mary-le-Bow spire seen from the roof terrace at One New change However, St Mary-le-Bow is probably most famous for its bells, whose history long

The City of London’s largest shopping centre offers stunning views of St Paul’s and beyond (it also has shops). One New Change Opened in 2010, One New Change occupies a whole block, bounded by New Change, Cheapside, Bread Street and Watling Street. It is the second post World War II building on this site, replacing offices built in 1957 (on what had been a bomb site) for the Accountant’s Department of the Bank of England. Walks available for booking For a schedule of forthcom

The Islington street with one foot in the City of London has many fascinating guises. Whitecross Street Whenever I find myself on...

Bombed City of London churches and Guildhall through the eyes of an artist in the 1940s. St Paul's Cathedral by Ernest Borough Johnson...

A glittering 'Aladdin’s cave' hidden under an office building houses the world’s largest silverware market. The London Silver Vaults In...

Alan Pollock flew along the Thames in London in a rogue solo flypast for the RAF’s 50th anniversary in 1968. Tower of London and Tower...

Unpublished drawings of St Paul’s and Blitz-damaged Wren churches in the 1950s and 1960s. St Paul's Cathedral and St Nicholas Cole Abbey,...

More peculiar and varied street names in the Square Mile. The City of London is the oldest part of the metropolis. Because of its...

The Bard, his wife and a new London address in Trinity Lane? Shakespeare's image on the Queenhithe mosaic, close to where he and Anne...

On Cornhill in the City of London, carvings on a pair of mahogany doors tell the long history of the area. The doors are at 32 Cornhill,...

The 20th century ceramic murals in the Barbican Estate celebrate technological advancement. The Dorothy Annan murals on Cromwell Highwalk...

A medieval arch, a Tudor house and moving memorials to fallen sons The entrance to the churchyard of St Bartholomew the Great from...

A former City of London bombsite with pretty plants. And hidden secrets. The lower tier of Cleary Garden Cleary Garden is a small park on...

The woman responsible for The Daily Courant, Britain's first daily newspaper in 1702. The launch issue of The Daily Courant was...

William FitzStephen wrote the world’s earliest description of ice skating in around 1174. Londoners and visitors enjoying outdoor ice...

An 850 year old document describes a livestock market for swine, cows, oxen and woolly flocks at Smithfield. Smithfield meat market, the...

The site’s 800 year history includes housing Jews converted to Christianity, and legal and national records. During London Open House...

The Square Mile has a wealth of unusual, colourful and deceptive street names. Many of London's most curious and unlikely street names...

The sculpture on the Monument to the Great Fire of London is rich with symbolism . It illustrates the catastrophe that destroyed...